Monday, 26 January 2015

Although the
term red herring is usually associated with murder mysteries, most stories
contain an element of misdirection to keep the reader guessing at the outcome. When
it’s obvious where it’s headed, even if the route contains interesting
obstacles and encounters, you miss out on that feeling of discovery when you
realise the answer isn’t A, as you thought, but B (which seemed impossible but
now you can see of course it was B, it was always B, sneaky, sneaky B).

In order to
create the delight a reader feels when their view of the world (even when it’s
a made up world) is spun around 180 degrees and they see things how they truly
are you have to first convince them of the way things truly aren’t.

Monday, 19 January 2015

When we think of
a story being a mystery the tendency is to think of the mystery genre. An investigator
(usually a detective), a puzzle to be solved (usually a crime), a person to be
caught (usually a criminal).

But to all
intents and purposes every story is basically a mystery. There is always a burning
question that needs answering and someone who is tasked with finding that
answer. It’s just that it might not be as obvious what the question is in Looking for Love as it is in Who Killed Johnny?

And if it’s well
written the reader’s desire to also discover the answer should be just as
strong in both stories. Which is why when that desire isn’t so strong we can
use the mechanics of the mystery genre to help work out what’s gone awry in
other types of stories.

Monday, 12 January 2015

This is the first in a series of posts looking at
common writing techniques that can be both very effective and horribly misused.
The focus here will be on how to get the most out of them while avoiding the obvious,
hackneyed and contrived.

In most stories you will employ some kind of
plant. This is where you establish something early on that will come back to
have some significance later on in the story.

It could be an object, a name or an idea. Typically
you make the reader aware of it in the first few chapters and when it turns up
towards the end the recognition combined with the important role this seemingly
innocuous thing/person/concept now plays can be very satisfying. It can also be
crass and clunky.